


We're Already There

by taibhrigh



Category: Chronicles of Riddick (2004)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-10-13
Updated: 2010-10-13
Packaged: 2017-10-12 15:37:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/126437
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taibhrigh/pseuds/taibhrigh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Vaako's pissed. His chest burns and aches and he knows Riddick is the cause. But he also knows Riddick is now his best bet for taking over the universe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Fighting the Truth

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to [siluria](http://archiveofourown.org/users/siluria) for the beta.
> 
>  
> 
> This story was written for smallfandomfest #7 on LJ.

Riddick rolled to his feet, knife still in his hand as he spun back around toward his attacker. They had been at this for almost twenty minutes and neither of them were winded, or for that matter, showing any signs of backing down. They both sported several small knife cuts, as they had each gotten close with their blades but not close enough to do any real damage. More like annoying little stings, especially with neither of them wearing armor.

He pivoted again and danced around his opponent; missing by mere millimeters of being able to slice into the other man's bicep. Riddick had to give Vaako credit, the Necromonger was more flexible and far better at hand-to-hand combat then he would have figured for a man who pulled guns before a knife.

Vaako had been at each of Riddick's tussles with the Necromongers--from the very first time on Helion Prime to his battle with Zhylaw. Riddick had been victorious in one fashion or another in all of the encounters. Though, he wasn't sure if becoming Lord Marshal was a victory or not.

In the last several months Vaako had actually been quite helpful with getting Riddick settled in the Lord Marshal position, from the trip to the Threshold to actually getting the other soldiers to fall into line.

But a week ago Lord Vaako's wife had made a play for both Riddick and the position of Lord Marshal. Dame Vaako really wanted the position and to be the first woman Lord Marshal. She tried rubbing up against him and whispering in his ear. He ignored her. She upped the ante by sneaking into his quarters and climbing into bed with him. He let her go for a ride and then dumped her on the floor. Riddick could see what Vaako enjoyed about the woman, she was quite fiery and he liked a good tussle in bed. But he just wasn't into two-faced bitches.

When fucking him didn't work, Dame Vaako tried to kill him. Riddick could tolerate a lot of things; someone trying to murder him wasn't one of them. So Dame Vaako's first attempt at killing him was also her last. She came at him with a dainty little sword and he stabbed her in the heart with the small curved blade he used to shave his head.

Vaako came at him again. This time with a kick to the solar plexus followed up a punch to the jaw. "Nice move," Riddick grunted, stumbling slightly before rebalancing and flipping Vaako over his back to the hard marble floor.

The two men came at each other again and again and broke apart just as quickly. Riddick finally took them to the floor with a move that had him coming out on top, straddling Vaako's waist. Riddick's knife was at Vaako's throat; Vaako's knife was at Riddick's stomach. The two men stared at each other. "I figure we'll both be dead if we keep this up," Riddick said.

"Neither of us is going to yield," Vaako remarked.

The door to the Necropolis began to open and both Riddick and Vaako barked the same order at the door. "Get Out!"

Vaako glared up at Riddick. "They will wait until we are both weak and then one of the Commanders will come in here and finish us both, becoming the new Lord Marshal."

Riddick knew a lot about Vaako. A lot more than Vaako knew about himself. He could feel the hardness of the other man's body beneath him. Could feel the tension and adrenaline as it raced just under Vaako's skin. The Threshold had shown him a lot.

The Elementals had been wrong. He wasn't the last Furyan, he had just been the last purebred born that had managed to live when Zhylaw came to destroy Furya. The Furyans had been a warrior race. If you purchased their services they fought and died for you. If they mixed with your people and had children they stayed to protect what was theirs. The Elementals had miscalculated. If Aereon hadn't been sent to Zhylaw, the Furyans would have exterminated the Necromongers years earlier.

Zhylaw had been worried about Riddick after the Greater Quasi Dead had announced that he was Furyan. But Zhylaw had never taken a closer look at the converts around him. The head Purifier had been a converted Furyan. And Riddick knew there were at least a dozen half-bred Furyan children still in the Necromonger fleet. The prophecy of Zhylaw's death would have come true one way or another.

Riddick leaned down so his silver eyes could look directly into Vaako's hazel ones. He could feel the slight bite of Vaako's blade, but he also felt Vaako shift his wrist a fraction so the blade did no actual damage. "What has you so pissed Vaako that you would try to kill me? Change your mind about being Lord Marshal?"

"No. But, you killed my wife, Riddick. Law dictates I kill you for taking what is mine."

"She wasn't loyal. She liked to slip into other people's beds."

"Yours?"

"Mine. Toal's, Lady Elda's."

"Then I will take care of them when I am done with you."

Riddick snorted at Vaako's confidence. He liked that in the other man and had no doubt that if Vaako walked out of this room alive the other two people would soon be dead. "Were you loyal to her?" Riddick asked.

"Yes."

"Did you love her?"

"That is not important."

Riddick shrugged a little, having already guessed that the marriage had really been a political move for one or both of them. "Did you trust her?"

"No," Vaako answered.

Riddick leaned back and removed his knife from Vaako's throat. He wasn't worried that Vaako still hadn't moved his blade away. "Ever wonder why you and the Purifier didn't die with the rest of your men who were in the path of my little light show back on Crematoria?"

"What does this have to do with you killing my wife?"

"Just answer the question."

Vaako growled and tried to buck Riddick off of him but the Furyan barely moved and Vaako had to move the knife in the process to avoid it twisting into his own stomach. "Yes! Okay, yes! I wanted to know, want to know, why I didn't die with them."

Riddick leaned down again. "Did your chest burn with an ache of pain, of rage like you never felt before?"

Vaako glared at him and Riddick knew Vaako wanted to deny it but couldn't. "Yes."

Riddick grinned and leaned even further down so he could whisper into Vaako's ear. "One of your parents was like me, a Furyan."

This time Vaako did manage to dislodge Riddick from his spot and the two men sprung back to their feet, facing each other with knives ready. "You lie!" Vaako said angrily. "Zhylaw would have killed me on sight if that was true."

"Zhylaw thought too much of himself to ever pay attention to the convert intake records," Riddick said before ducking a kick aimed at his head. He landed his own kick to Vaako's chest that sent the man flying through the air. "And I just bet you stayed out of the clutches of those Quasi Dead things."

Vaako landed in a crouch before springing into a move that brought him within striking distance of Riddick. "Again I ask, what does this have to do with you killing my wife?"

Riddick danced out of the way. "Just saving you from having to do it yourself."

"I could have been free of ties," Vaako began but could say no more when the door to the Necropolis opened again. The handful of soldiers that followed Commander Scales into the room quickly backed out of it when Scales fell to the floor with two knives protruding from his neck.

The two combatants turned back to each other, each pulling another knife from some hidden location on their body.

"Are we really going to start this all over again?" Riddick asked. He rolled the muscles in his shoulders and stared at Vaako waiting for answer. "I can prove what I say."

"How?"

Riddick used his knife to cut away a section of his shirt. The outline of a handprint could clearly be seen on the Furyan's chest right above his heart. He watched as Vaako put his hand to his own chest and rubbed before using his own blade to cut away a similar section of shirt.

There on Vaako's chest was a very pale outline of a hand. It burned even brighter to Riddick's sight now that there was no clothing covering it.

"Why?" Vaako asked, backing up several steps. "Why?"

Riddick approached Vaako slowly, like you would a skittish animal even as Vaako backed away. "You keep what you kill," Riddick reminded Vaako. "She wasn't for you. She couldn't give you what you want or need. I killed her to keep you."

"I don't..." Vaako began.

Riddick quieted Vaako by pushing the other man against the wall and kissing him. "You will be the leader of my army. My right hand, my consort. My partner. We will rule this fleet together," Riddick said breaking the kiss. "I will give you my trust, my love and only ask for the same in return."

Vaako was quiet for a second as he stared into Riddick's eyes. Riddick almost believed that the other man could see right into his soul; and maybe for a minute Vaako could because he grabbed the back of Riddick's head and brought their lips together.

"Yes," Vaako said as the sound of two knives hitting the marble floor echoed through the Necropolis.


	2. An Offer He Can't Refuse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> From Vaako's POV.

Vaako's chest burned. He wasn't sure what the breeder Riddick had done down on that damnable planet or why only he was left standing of everyone who had been the focus of the blast, but he was. He was alive, as alive as any Necromonger, at least.

He rubbed at his chest again. He was going back to the fleet victoriously or so he would be telling the Lord Marshal. After all, he really had no proof one way or another that Riddick was dead. Vaako was beginning to believe the breeder, the Furyan, was more than he appeared to be. For the moment, all Vaako cared about was that Riddick was nowhere near the Necromonger fleet.

Vaako's chest still ached a day later when his ship docked with the Basilica.

~*~*~

Lord Marshal Zhylaw was not all knowing, even if he pretended to be. Vaako was beginning to see that Zhylaw wasn't the leader he had once thought the man to be. He could not discredit the holy-half dead abilities, but Vaako was beginning to realize that was all Zhylaw had going for him.

Vaako accepted the promotion to First Among Commanders. Now he just needed a way to promote Zhylaw to full dead. His wife was right, for once, Zhylaw was no longer fit to be Lord Marshal. But he had no plans to be his wife's puppet either.

~*~*~

Riddick's arrival and the demise of Zhylaw changed little of Vaako's normal day-to-day life. At least at first. He'd stayed out of the fights on the journey to the Threshold, something that shouldn't have occurred but the other Commanders hadn't known what to expect from the "breeder" now sitting on the throne.

He was only involved in the second fight because he'd nearly lost his own head to a swinging ax. He'd easily defeated his opponent only to find Riddick leaning against the wall staring at him; watching him with a small smile playing at the new Lord Marshal's lips.

"Not bad," Riddick had said, pushing away from the wall and leaving the room.

Vaako wasn't sure what to make of the comment, but he made sure the fight trainers knew about aim and precision and one or two may have lost their lives so that the others could learn that lesson.

~*~*~

Riddick returned from the Threshold looking no different, at least to Vaako's eyes. The Furyan had always been fast and hard to kill and those skills were still very much present. If Riddick had inherited anything from the Threshold he was keeping it close to his chest. That Vaako could understand.

Vaako could understand a lot of the things Riddick did; even sleeping with his whoring wife. But he couldn't understand the Furyan killing her. That should have been left to him. It would have freed him from her under their laws. He had a list of names of the others whose beds she had slipped in and out of while trying to gain the upper hand with or against the Lord Marshal. If he survived the knife fight he had initiated with the Lord Marshal over the killing of his wife, they would be next. And he said as much. "Then I will take care of them when I am done with you."

Riddick snorted. The Lord Marshal was currently pinning him to the ground, but hadn't actually made a move to exact the killing blow. Maybe sometimes the Furyan did still manage to confuse him.

"Were you loyal to her?" Riddick asked.

Vaako glared at the silver-eyed man. "Yes," he barked. He hadn't wanted or needed someone else to take his sexual needs out with. It just leant to being stabbed in the back.

Riddick tilted his head slightly but nodded. "Did you love her? Did you trust her?""

Neither was important. His marriage had been political and she'd satisfied his needs in both realms. He gave his answer and Riddick seemed satisfied with it because the Furyan sat up and removed the knife he'd held at his throat.

Vaako didn't remove the knife he had pressed to Riddick's stomach but the Lord Marshal didn't seem overly concerned about it. Instead Riddick seemed to want to talk.

"Ever wonder why you and the Purifier didn't die with the rest of your men who were in the path of my little light show back on Hades?"

Talking with Riddick could always be frustrating. Riddick liked to hide his intelligence behind his breeder appearance. It had been one of the few exasperating things Vaako had noticed as he had worked with the new Lord Marshal. "What does this have to do with you killing my wife?" Vaako asked, trying to find his bearing in the conversation.

"Just answer the question."

Vaako growled and tried to buck Riddick off of him but the Furyan barely moved and he had to move his knife in the process or risk impaling his own stomach. "Yes! Okay, yes!" Vaako all but screamed. "I wanted to know, want to know, why I didn't die with them."

It was the truth and like months before his chest burned slightly as he demanded an answer. This time hoping it would come.

Riddick leaned down again and Vaako was positive the Furyan's eyes were glowing and that it had nothing to do with the shine job. "Did your chest burn with an ache of pain, of rage like you never felt before?" the Lord Marshal asked.

Vaako glared but knew that lying was out of the question and so he didn't deny it. "Yes," he answered just above a whisper. "Yes."

From above him Riddick grinned and leaned even further down to whisper into his ear. "One of your parents was like me, a Furyan."

That answer made Vaako furious. It was a lie. The first lie he'd ever caught Riddick telling him. Vaako bucked hard and managed to dislodge Riddick from his spot on top of him. He sprung back to his feet as fast as Riddick and it left them both facing each other with knives ready. "You lie!" Vaako said angrily, ignoring the burning in his chest. "Zhylaw would have killed me on sight if that was true," Vaako said, now knowing about the prophecy.

Riddick laughed. "Zhylaw thought too much of himself to ever pay attention to the convert intake records. And I just bet you stayed out of the clutches of those Quasi Dead things."

Vaako responded by trying to kick the Furyan in the head. He missed as Riddick managed to duck the blow by just barely stepping out of range. Unfortunately for Vaako, Riddick really was quick and retaliated with his own kick that connected with Vaako's chest and sent him flying through the air.

He shrugged it off as he landed in a crouch before springing into a move that brought him within striking distance of Riddick again. He still wasn't sure what any of this had to do with Riddick killing his wife and Riddick wasn't giving him the answers he was seeking.

Then the door to the Necropolis opened for the second time since he and Riddick started their fight and neither one of them was going to let Scales interrupt. The handful of soldiers that had followed the commander into the room quickly backed out of it when Scales fell to the floor with two knives protruding from his neck.

Vaako spun to look back at Riddick as both of them pulled another a knife. He didn't want to start the fight again. It was getting them nowhere. He hid how delighted he was when Riddick asked if they were going to start this all over again.

"I can prove what I say," Riddick added.

"How?"

Vaako watched as Riddick used his blade to cut away a section of his shirt. As the Lord Marshal peeled away the fabric Vaako could clearly see the outline of a handprint on the Furyan's chest right above his heart. The handprint seemed to burn red and glow with a soft blue-ish light. Vaako lifted his own hand to his chest and rubbed before using his own blade to cut away a similar section of shirt.

"Why?" Vaako asked, backing up several steps. He looked down at his chest once more to stare at the very pale outline of a hand. It seemed to burn for a second before darkening; becoming even more noticeable to Vaako. "Why?"

Vaako continued to back away even as Riddick approached until Vaako's back was against the wall. "You keep what you kill," Riddick reminded Vaako. "She wasn't for you. She couldn't give you what you want or need. I killed her to keep you."

"I don't..." Vaako began, but stopped as Riddick pushed him into the wall and started kissing him. It was as if his brain stopped working for a second and he had to replay what Riddick was saying before he could answer.

 _"You will be the leader of my army. My right hand, my consort. My partner. We will rule this fleet together. I will give you my trust, my love and only ask for the same in return."_

Vaako grabbed the back of Riddick's head and brought their lips together. "Yes," he said. "Yes."

He dropped his knife, the sound of it hitting the marble floor echoed through the Necropolis, but Vaako didn't care; he needed both hands to take hold of Riddick and bring him closer. Riddick's knife had dropped along with his, and soon both men followed them to the floor.

Vaako found himself, once again, with his back flat on the floor again and Riddick straddling his hips, staring down at him. This time though both he and Riddick were without clothes, armor, or knives.

"We'll have to do that again." The lecherous look on Riddick's face was all Vaako needed to see to know what the Lord Marshal was talking about as he really wasn't up to another half hour knife fight. Especially after the twenty minutes he and Riddick had just spent on the floor of the Necropolis.

"Yes," he agreed, "but not on the floor of the Necropolis."

Riddick chuckled and popped to his feet. "Especially when there is a very nice bed in our chambers."

Vaako didn't blink at the comment, but took the hand up that Riddick offered. He was now the Lord Marshal's consort. "Where are you taking the fleet, Riddick?" he asked, using no titles when addressing the other man.

Riddick grinned and pulled him close. "I'm going to show you the power in that rage that burns within you and then you and I are going to conquer the known universe."

Vaako looked into Riddick's silver eyes before leaning in for another searing kiss. It was an offer he couldn't refuse. That he didn't want to refuse. He stepped back and nodded. "Sounds like fun," he said.

"Now you're getting it," Riddick said, pulling him back in and Vaako let him, knowing that they would eventually make it out of the Necropolis.


	3. Finding Home

Taking over the universe wasn't as easy as just destroying it planet-by-planet as they went along. Destroying, Vaako understood. He'd been doing that since his conversion. Taking a planet--its people, its resources and then leaving an empty, lifeless ball of dirt and destruction behind was easier--had become easier to him over the years. And really, it was less messy as well.

But this taking it over, saving it from itself, that he had not understood at first. Not until Riddick had shown him their home. The dreams of Furya. Riddick had opened his mind to their homeland and then to the universe. Through Riddick he had been granted a gift from the Underverse. And it had been only the first of many such gifts.

Riddick had said he would make him his partner, that they would rule the fleet together and Riddick had kept his promise. He had shown him what the rage inside of him could do when he channeled it correctly. The Necromongers bowed before them both. Or they did now. Those that had not, found themselves seeking death long before he or Riddick granted it to them.

And okay, there had been some destroying along the way. There were a couple of planets that Riddick just didn't give a damn about. Hades had been first. It was of no value to the fleet, but no one but him and Riddick knew that. Riddick had simply eradicated the planet. If the final scans as they were pulling out of the system were correct, the planet would cave in on itself within a year. Riddick really had hated that planet.

Then came Crematoria. Vaako's chest ached when he thought of that planet. Without even realizing it, he had caused the death of a fellow Furyan and another like him--where at least one of her parents had been Furyan. Riddick had told him that they had each made their own choices.

Crematoria had brought them Eve, another like him and Jack. Maybe even more so for when Riddick had shown her the visions, she had wept and then killed several of the guards in the room as if knowing which ones had actually marched on Furya with Zhylaw. Vaako figured the females of their kind also carried the pain of what remained of their planet. Crematoria had also brought them two dozen converts and a couple of Hellhounds--which he tolerated only because Riddick enjoyed their presence and, if he was being honest with himself, he enjoyed watching them chase the other nobles when they pissed Riddick off.

There were several more planets destroyed along the way as they conquered the universe; though, like Crematoria they seemed to house prisons. Vaako understood the planet destroying was a deception used to keep the people in the fleet from figuring out what was going on until it was too late. The Necromongers were changing. The conversion process was changing. The universe was changing. And it all centered around Riddick as if he was the gravity of the universe.

It had surprised Vaako that while Riddick would take opponents head on, he was coaxing the universe into doing what he wanted with just little pushes here and there. If one of the other Lord Marshal's had figured that out before…well, he wasn't going to think on that.

Instead Vaako tried to pry away the arm wrapped around his waist so he could turn over only to have it tighten.

It was just above a whisper, but Vaako could clearly hear Riddick's sleep-roughened voice ask, "Going somewhere?"

"Yes," Vaako said just as quietly and waited for Riddick's answer.

Riddick tightened his arm again for a second before loosening it enough for Vaako to get out of bed. Instead Vaako rolled over so he could straddle Riddick's hips and look down on the other man. "I have plans for you," he said, leaning down to take Riddick's mouth with his. "Lots of plans."

Vaako slid down Riddick's body, stopping to bite and suck at the juncture of Riddick's neck before moving to the left hipbone. He slid down and up Riddick's body several times, listening to the sounds of the other man's breathing hitching and catching as he moaned. Vaako had learned this too; he was the only one who could make Riddick lose himself.

He felt Riddick gently grab at his head before carding his fingers through the long hair and pulling him back up the bed. "I always like this plan," Riddick said, bringing their lips back together and rolling them over so that Vaako was now lying flat on the bed and Riddick was above him--lower bodies together, upper bodies apart while Riddick was propped up on his arms grinning down at Vaako.

Vaako snorted. "My plan did not have me lying underneath you, but you under me."

"That plan is good too." Riddick grinned before attacking Vaako's neck and throat with his lips and tongue. "But I thought we'd go with mine right now."

Vaako rolled his eyes and then moaned. Riddick's plan was good too, but he wasn't about to admit that out loud nor stop all the parts of what he'd had in mind. Instead he arched his hips up to meet Riddick's and then wrapped his left leg around Riddick's right one so their bodies aligned to create a glorious friction that had them both panting for breath.

"Vaako." Riddick's position changed slightly as he gripped Vaako's hip hard enough to leave bruises. In the low light of their bedroom Riddick's silver eyes shone with a combination of passion, lust, love, power, and a little pissiness for ruining what he'd wanted.

Vaako chuckled. "I said I had plans," he said, reaching up and bringing Riddick's head down to his so their eyes were just inches apart. "We have plenty of time for what you want too." And to prove that, Vaako shifted again, letting Riddick's weight grind their lower bodies together before he widened his legs and gave Riddick full access to his body.

Riddick slid in and Vaako gripped the strong shoulders above him and arched into the movement.

"Tomorrow we land what's left of this fleet on Furya," Riddick said.

"Tomorrow we come home."

"We're already there."

"Yes."

~end~


End file.
